arm
Well-known member
Vermont's Long Trail - A Footpath in the Wilderness
haven't posted many trip reports lately ... thought this one might help friends considering a Long Trail thru-hike, or help insomniacs catch up on their beauty sleep (zzz)
posted some pics on picasa, since webshots is shutting down:
https://picasaweb.google.com/winterhiker/LongTrailVermont2012#
looking for something fun to do in the fall for 2 or 3 weeks, hiking the Long Trail section from Mass to Canada seemed to fit well
with a few popular LT re-supply options closing up north, i cruised up a week before and stashed a couple bear canisters at road crossings
trimmed pack weight, making a stove out of Long Trail Ale cans, bringing lightweight clothes and sleeping gear (pack light, freeze at night), water drops instead of a filter, etc
targeted starting just after labor day, but Mass MoCA set up a fun FreshGrass Festival, sept 21-23, so a bunch of us camped out and caught great bluegrass bands in North Adams
sep 23 - after a hearty breakfast, Donna Jen MtnMa MtnPa dropped me at Mass Ave trailhead in North Adams ... happy as a pig in poop knowing i'd be on the trail for a couple weeks
tented near Congdon Shelter ... most shelters had their fair share of mice and glory holes ...
sep 24 - another easy hike to Goddard ... saw a few nice illegal tent sites along the trail but shelters had reliable water sources and plenty of room with grim forecasts on the way
sep 25 - Glastenbury's summit tower yielded the first great views in Vermont, despite "scenic view" stars on the map that sometimes reminded me of passayawnaway
misty cold air set in as i hiked over Stratton after the sun set ... sneakers i had broken my feet into over the summer were now breaking my feet, which were pounding by the time i reached Stratton Pond Shelter
sep 26 - woke with blisters giving birth to more blisters ... thought my thru-hike was done ... rested a while then bandaged my frankentoes, telling my aching trenchfeet to quit their bitchin' and get their arses back in to them cold wet sneakers, then trekked on after lunch
pushed on through misty wet fog and reached Bromley Summit Hut after dark ... Happy i did, had the Hut to myself, then heavy rain and high winds raged outside, while i was warm and toasty inside, drying clothes ... would not have made it here if i hadn't pushed on to Stratton Pond the night before ...
sep 27 - Incredible undercast sunrise from Bromley Summit Hut, warm dark orange sunshine pouring into windows ... ate breakfast on a bench basking in the morninglow ... considered a Nero Day, but pushed on til the day ... last time i'd see the sun for the next nine days ... maybe the Mountain Gods revenge for a prank i pulled on Michelle when she thru-hiked the LT, delivering news of spirit-crushing rain after she endured a week of rain ?
Mad Tom Notch Road pump w*rked, but water was murky ... irony water was kind of ironic
sep 28 - pushed on to Little Rock Pond Shelter ... rained hard all day ... good thing i like rain, because i was gettin' some ... Robert Plant once said, "it's just a little rain" ...
SueBiscuit met me on the trail, bringing steak tips and beer for dinner at Clarendon Shelter, where we tented because the shelter roof leaks like a sieve ... i felt a bit more chatty than usual as we hiked and figured that was due to hiking solo for the previous five days, letting piles of words build up in my brain that were eager to escape ...
sep 29 - hiked along the temporary trail relocation between Cold River Roads, because this 1.5 mile section is still closed due to Hurricane Irene ...
met Jen on the south side of Killington, then hiked up to Cooper Lodge for lunch ... hiked up over the summit to see if we could score a raspberry pumpernickel avocado crappuccino at the Oxygen Bar we read about, but it was closed ? wet slog out to route 4 on tired feet ...
grabbed dinner at a nearby pizza place, then camped at Gifford Woods, where we met BoB and Ellen the next day ... took a zero day to rest my achy breaky feet, shower, laundry, go for the Best Breakfast In The World at the Swiss Farm Inn in Pittsfield, and tasty Guinness and Beef Stew with live Irish music at the Long Trail Inn ...
oct 01 - Jen offered to slackpack me, dropping me off at route 4 while she went to w*rk, then meeting me that evening at Brandon Gap ... it was tough climbing out of her car at 7am with howling 40+MPH winds, sub-40F temps and horizontal rain, but the slackpack went well, chewing up 20 miles of viewless forestwalk ...
rarely needed a shower since it rained most days, showering me while i trekked on ... at least i was saving a ton of money on sunblock ... theme songs of the day were "i don't like mondays", and "walking in the rain"
pretty sure i'm part polar bear, but raw cold wet air has a way of setting up camp in the marrow of your bones, dampening your spirit, and grim weather delivered a couple weeks of hypothermic conditions that wouldn't allow me to really feel warm until the trip was over ... Jen offered crash space that night, which made a huge difference heading north the next day ...
doubt i would have reached Canada if i hadn't swapped from sneakers to boots at route 4 ...
oct 02 - hiked on a cloudy day to Boyce Shelter, which i had to myself ... most people on the trail were SoBo AT section hikers south of route 4 ... most shelters north of route 4 were empty ...
trail conditions between Brandon Gap and Whiteface were treacherous ... an obstacle course of greasy boardwalks, slickery schist, rocks roots reggae ...
oct 03 - rainy Misty Mountain Hop from Boyce Shelter to Battell Shelter, which i reached after dark ... Woody showed up a while later, to backpack up to App Gap ...
oct 04 - Woody and i hiked over Abraham and Ellen ... it was great to hike with friends after hiking solo most of the way ... cloudy ridge felt a lot like Kilkenny and Bigelow Ridges, with green mossy fern groves
Chinook and Jen met us at App Gap, where Chinook was planning to backpack up to Birch Glen ... i was hypothermic, so we ended up grabbing yummy BBQ and Lawson's Triple IPA at Localfolk Smokehouse in Waitsfield, then we crashed at Jen's place ...
oct 05 - the SUN came out for the first time in nine days you couldn't pry the smile off my face with a crowbar !
grabbed breakfast at Old Hancock Hotel with Chinook and Woody, then Woody headed up to Duxbury Road to hike the LT south, hoping to meet me on Camels Hump ...
Chinook dropped me off at App Gap, where Green Mountain Club was interviewing hikers ... i slackpacked over Camels Hump, meeting Woody at Duxbury Road lot, then we camped at Elmore State Park with Chinook, my Dad, Donna, Jen, MtnMa and MtnPa ... i had originally planned on camping on the LT the entire trip but was very grateful to have friends and family take good care of me off the trail
oct 06 - spotted a car on Bolton Notch Road, then roadwalked from Duxbury Road lot with Jen and Woody, meeting my Dad, Donna and MtnPa on the trail north of Jonesville ... it was great to hike with hiking friends along the trail, but really cool to hike a couple sections with my Dad who was up visiting from florida ... we had a birthday party for him back at the campground that night ...
oct 07 - met Frodo in Waterbury, then we got dropped off on Bolton Notch Road, where we slackpacked over Mansfield to Smugglers Notch, meeting Jen and MtnPa on the Forehead ... saw our first snow! while we were hiking down from Mansfield, which unfortunately turned to hypothermic rain ... warmed up around the campfire back at Elmore, where MtnMa had hot dinner waiting for us ...
haven't posted many trip reports lately ... thought this one might help friends considering a Long Trail thru-hike, or help insomniacs catch up on their beauty sleep (zzz)
posted some pics on picasa, since webshots is shutting down:
https://picasaweb.google.com/winterhiker/LongTrailVermont2012#
looking for something fun to do in the fall for 2 or 3 weeks, hiking the Long Trail section from Mass to Canada seemed to fit well
with a few popular LT re-supply options closing up north, i cruised up a week before and stashed a couple bear canisters at road crossings
trimmed pack weight, making a stove out of Long Trail Ale cans, bringing lightweight clothes and sleeping gear (pack light, freeze at night), water drops instead of a filter, etc
targeted starting just after labor day, but Mass MoCA set up a fun FreshGrass Festival, sept 21-23, so a bunch of us camped out and caught great bluegrass bands in North Adams
sep 23 - after a hearty breakfast, Donna Jen MtnMa MtnPa dropped me at Mass Ave trailhead in North Adams ... happy as a pig in poop knowing i'd be on the trail for a couple weeks
tented near Congdon Shelter ... most shelters had their fair share of mice and glory holes ...
sep 24 - another easy hike to Goddard ... saw a few nice illegal tent sites along the trail but shelters had reliable water sources and plenty of room with grim forecasts on the way
sep 25 - Glastenbury's summit tower yielded the first great views in Vermont, despite "scenic view" stars on the map that sometimes reminded me of passayawnaway
misty cold air set in as i hiked over Stratton after the sun set ... sneakers i had broken my feet into over the summer were now breaking my feet, which were pounding by the time i reached Stratton Pond Shelter
sep 26 - woke with blisters giving birth to more blisters ... thought my thru-hike was done ... rested a while then bandaged my frankentoes, telling my aching trenchfeet to quit their bitchin' and get their arses back in to them cold wet sneakers, then trekked on after lunch
pushed on through misty wet fog and reached Bromley Summit Hut after dark ... Happy i did, had the Hut to myself, then heavy rain and high winds raged outside, while i was warm and toasty inside, drying clothes ... would not have made it here if i hadn't pushed on to Stratton Pond the night before ...
sep 27 - Incredible undercast sunrise from Bromley Summit Hut, warm dark orange sunshine pouring into windows ... ate breakfast on a bench basking in the morninglow ... considered a Nero Day, but pushed on til the day ... last time i'd see the sun for the next nine days ... maybe the Mountain Gods revenge for a prank i pulled on Michelle when she thru-hiked the LT, delivering news of spirit-crushing rain after she endured a week of rain ?
Mad Tom Notch Road pump w*rked, but water was murky ... irony water was kind of ironic
sep 28 - pushed on to Little Rock Pond Shelter ... rained hard all day ... good thing i like rain, because i was gettin' some ... Robert Plant once said, "it's just a little rain" ...
SueBiscuit met me on the trail, bringing steak tips and beer for dinner at Clarendon Shelter, where we tented because the shelter roof leaks like a sieve ... i felt a bit more chatty than usual as we hiked and figured that was due to hiking solo for the previous five days, letting piles of words build up in my brain that were eager to escape ...
sep 29 - hiked along the temporary trail relocation between Cold River Roads, because this 1.5 mile section is still closed due to Hurricane Irene ...
met Jen on the south side of Killington, then hiked up to Cooper Lodge for lunch ... hiked up over the summit to see if we could score a raspberry pumpernickel avocado crappuccino at the Oxygen Bar we read about, but it was closed ? wet slog out to route 4 on tired feet ...
grabbed dinner at a nearby pizza place, then camped at Gifford Woods, where we met BoB and Ellen the next day ... took a zero day to rest my achy breaky feet, shower, laundry, go for the Best Breakfast In The World at the Swiss Farm Inn in Pittsfield, and tasty Guinness and Beef Stew with live Irish music at the Long Trail Inn ...
oct 01 - Jen offered to slackpack me, dropping me off at route 4 while she went to w*rk, then meeting me that evening at Brandon Gap ... it was tough climbing out of her car at 7am with howling 40+MPH winds, sub-40F temps and horizontal rain, but the slackpack went well, chewing up 20 miles of viewless forestwalk ...
rarely needed a shower since it rained most days, showering me while i trekked on ... at least i was saving a ton of money on sunblock ... theme songs of the day were "i don't like mondays", and "walking in the rain"
pretty sure i'm part polar bear, but raw cold wet air has a way of setting up camp in the marrow of your bones, dampening your spirit, and grim weather delivered a couple weeks of hypothermic conditions that wouldn't allow me to really feel warm until the trip was over ... Jen offered crash space that night, which made a huge difference heading north the next day ...
doubt i would have reached Canada if i hadn't swapped from sneakers to boots at route 4 ...
oct 02 - hiked on a cloudy day to Boyce Shelter, which i had to myself ... most people on the trail were SoBo AT section hikers south of route 4 ... most shelters north of route 4 were empty ...
trail conditions between Brandon Gap and Whiteface were treacherous ... an obstacle course of greasy boardwalks, slickery schist, rocks roots reggae ...
oct 03 - rainy Misty Mountain Hop from Boyce Shelter to Battell Shelter, which i reached after dark ... Woody showed up a while later, to backpack up to App Gap ...
oct 04 - Woody and i hiked over Abraham and Ellen ... it was great to hike with friends after hiking solo most of the way ... cloudy ridge felt a lot like Kilkenny and Bigelow Ridges, with green mossy fern groves
Chinook and Jen met us at App Gap, where Chinook was planning to backpack up to Birch Glen ... i was hypothermic, so we ended up grabbing yummy BBQ and Lawson's Triple IPA at Localfolk Smokehouse in Waitsfield, then we crashed at Jen's place ...
oct 05 - the SUN came out for the first time in nine days
you couldn't pry the smile off my face with a crowbar !grabbed breakfast at Old Hancock Hotel with Chinook and Woody, then Woody headed up to Duxbury Road to hike the LT south, hoping to meet me on Camels Hump ...
Chinook dropped me off at App Gap, where Green Mountain Club was interviewing hikers ... i slackpacked over Camels Hump, meeting Woody at Duxbury Road lot, then we camped at Elmore State Park with Chinook, my Dad, Donna, Jen, MtnMa and MtnPa ... i had originally planned on camping on the LT the entire trip but was very grateful to have friends and family take good care of me off the trail
oct 06 - spotted a car on Bolton Notch Road, then roadwalked from Duxbury Road lot with Jen and Woody, meeting my Dad, Donna and MtnPa on the trail north of Jonesville ... it was great to hike with hiking friends along the trail, but really cool to hike a couple sections with my Dad who was up visiting from florida ... we had a birthday party for him back at the campground that night ...
oct 07 - met Frodo in Waterbury, then we got dropped off on Bolton Notch Road, where we slackpacked over Mansfield to Smugglers Notch, meeting Jen and MtnPa on the Forehead ... saw our first snow! while we were hiking down from Mansfield, which unfortunately turned to hypothermic rain ... warmed up around the campfire back at Elmore, where MtnMa had hot dinner waiting for us ...
